Wolves take first wins of season

You might not have believed the Wolves who dominated the Glacier Bears this weekend were the same team who lost to Craig in December, if you hadn't seen it.

The boys varsity basketball team won games Friday and Saturday by double digits, and led through all four quarters of each game to send the Glacier Bears home empty-handed this weekend.

Pacing played a critical role in the Wolves' victory, said head coach Ray Stokes.

"We had more patience," he said. "We shot the ball way better as a result of that. Defensively I thought we looked good as well."

"I think those were by far the keys," Stokes added. "We dictated the tempo of the game and in that way we pretty much controlled them both nights."

In contrast to the Craig squad, the Wolves were able to exploit bad match-ups to score points on the inside, Stokes said.

"We match up better with them (Haines)," Stokes said. "Haines struggled a bit shooting the ball, too. We took advantage of that."

"Overall, I thought the boys made a giant step forward, and every single kid stepped up and had some good moments and did some good things," Stokes added.

A ten-point third-quarter lead briefly narrowed to single digits during the fourth quarter Friday night after inside man senior Robbie Marshall fouled out, but that's as close as the Glacier Bears would come. Sophomores Blake Stokes and Bryce Gerald and juniors Aaron Howell and Mason Dingwall stepped up to make up the difference, and the Wolves closed out the first win of the season 46-56.

Saturday night, the Wolves made it look easy, leading all four quarters to the buzzer. Marshall was dominant in the early going. Stokes waited until the second half, then lit up the scoreboard. In contrast to the perimeter dominance the first night, Stokes made six trips to the line in the second half, and the Wolves walked away with it 43-62.

Sophomore Blake Stokes lead the Wolves Friday night with 17 points, including nine from behind the arc, two field goals, and four-for five from the line. Marshall followed with 13 points, eight from the inside and five-for-eight from the line.

Senior Isaac Wing led the Glacier Bears with 13 points, nine from beyond the arc, an additional field goal and three-for-four from the line. Senior Justin Swinton followed with 11 points on four field goals, a single three-pointer and three-for-four from the line.

Marshall and Stokes were atop the scoreboard again Saturday night. Marshall ended up leading the Wolves' offense with 18 points from 6 field goals and six-for-seven from the line. Stokes followed with 14 points on two field goals and 10-for-12 from the line.

Swinton lead the Glacier Bears with 13 points on five field goals and three-for-four from the line. Wing followed with 11 points

The Wolves' JV squad also took two from the Bears this weekend.

Friday night, the Wolves blew out the Glacier Bears 59-32, and followed up with a 39-24 victory in Saturday's sequel.

Sophomore Tyler Gillen lead the Wolves' offense with a whopping 21 points, chiefly on the back of a golden third quarter, when he shot 15 points from behind the arc. Gillen tacked on three other field goals in the course of the game. Freshmen Sam Armstrong and Garrett Miller followed with nine points each.

Sophomore Matthew Green led the Haines JV squad with eight points, followed by junior Jordan Badger with eight points.

Freshman Trent Stokes led the Wolves Saturday with 11 points on five field goals and a free throw. Gillen followed with a comparatively modest 10 points from the field.

Sophomore Matthew Green and junior Keegan Sundberg led the JV Glacier Bears with nine points each.

The Wolves' season continues this Friday with the homecoming rematch against Petersburg.